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Who’s up for another hard-hitting discussion episode? You are? Great!
Liz Bourke joins us for episode 87 to talk about LGBT discrimination in publishing, SF/F books for the ladyfolk (whatever that means), history from the classical period (with a little medieval history for good measure), and SF/F in the global sphere (and the women on the margins therein). Our conversation wanders to all kinds of interesting side topics — in true discussion fashion. We had a blast, and we hope you will too!
Listen away!
Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!
Here’s the episode (show notes are below):
Episode 87 — Download (MP3)
Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:17:50)
- RWA Chapter Contest Bans Same-sex Novel Entries
(or, How to Start a Shitstorm on the Internet) - Flavorwire’s list of 10 Great Science Fiction Books for Girls
(Because the best way to a girl’s heart is with a book involving children getting kicked in the junk…) - (Global) Women in Science Fiction Roundtable (World SF Blog)
(I have nothing funny to say about this…)
Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).
That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
0 Responses
And now that I’ve successfully made an audible fool of myself on the internets!
Here’s *my* list of the top ten SF (not F) books that might appeal to a female person.
“Carnival,” Elizabeth Bear. Spies! Capers! Doomed love! Interesting societies!
“The Outback Stars,” Sandra McDonald. Quasi-military SF. Awkward bureaucracy! Alien technology!
“Halting State,” Charles Stross. Near-future white-collar technological crime thriller! Told in the second person! (Also anything else by Stross.)
“Ammonite,” Nicola Griffith. A book I haven’t finished yet. Mesmeric. The skiffy conceit is largely biological.
“Knights of the Black Earth,” Margaret Weis and Don Perrin. Sort of like Star Wars, but with mercenaries and treachery and betrayal and crime.
“Trading in Danger,” Elizabeth Moon. Space operatic/military SF from the point of view of the scion of a trading dynasty.
“Dust,” Elizabeth Bear. Cool shit. Generation ship. Angels in the architecture. *Really cool shit.*
“The Dispossessed,” Ursula K. LeGuin. Classic.
“Cordelia’s Honor,” Lois McMaster Bujold. Brilliant in so many ways.
“End in Fire,” Syne Mitchell. Near-future apocalypse fiction. Sadly out of print.
“Steerswoman’s Road,” Rosemary Kirstein. Science fiction in a fantasy cloak.
“Agent of Change,” Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Capers! Space opera! Cool shit.
“Code of Conduct,” Kristine Smith. Also sad out of print. Cool aliens. SF thriller capers.
“The Risen Empire,” Scott Westerfeld.
…And it appears I can’t count, since that’s fourteen, and I’m tempted to keep going.
Elizabeth Bear rules and I cheered to hear you trumpet her works.
She does, just a bit.
Disclaimer: I knew Bear before she was a published writer. So I am a wee bit biased 🙂
Dust and Carnival are bloody brilliant (Carnival more in retrospect, since I’ve grown a keen appreciation for it as I progressed as a “sophisticated” reader). She deserves the plugs indeed.
That article and list was frustrating for so many reasons, not least of which was the fact that the recommendations (a non-juvie Heinlein? really?) made it look like there isn’t really any middle grade and teen science fiction out there that is about girls and/or written with them in mind.
Which is just so NOT TRUE* I have no** words.
A list that actually did what the article claimed to be interested in, finding science fiction books that might appeal specifically to girls – especially girls who aren’t already fans of the genre – would look more like this:
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – ages 13+
(I’m still boggling that this wasn’t mentioned.)
Shadow Children series Margeret Peterson Haddix – ages 8-12
(I’ve only read her Missing series so far, but this one is older and much more beloved in general.)
Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld – ages 11-16
(Before Twilight and The Hunger Games came along, this was THE genre series that teen girls asked for the most. And they still ask for it.)
Runaways by Brian K Vaughn – ages 13-17
(Because no scifi list for girls is complete without a heroine with her own dinosaur.)
The Giver by Lois Lowry – ages 10-14
(I have to admit I haven’t read this one, but it’s award winning and both boys and girls rave about all the time.)
Across the Universe by Beth Reevis – ages 13-17
(Generation ship for the younger generation. Also, take THAT “The Cold Equations.)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth series by Carrie Ryan – ages 13+
(Zombies! + teenage rebellion = scary shit. Especially in the final book.)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats if NIMH by Patrick O’Brien – ages 8-12
(I am perhaps simply being nostalgic by including this, but I reread it last year and found I was still quite impressed.)
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June by Robin Benway – ages 14-17
(A comforting cup of “classic girl novel” with just a small dash of kick thrown in for fun.)
The Children of the Revolution by Maureen Johnson – ages 14+
(I cheat – this is a short story, not a book. But I want more science fiction that makes me laugh hysterically. So you all need to read it and then join me in my hunger.)
*Well, ok. There really isn’t a whole lot of middle grade science fiction for girls, but the truth is there just isn’t much science fiction for middle grades to begin with. I suspect it’s a combination of developmental needs, cultural attitudes towards genre fiction, the historical development of children’s books as literature, and condescending assumptions about why kids do/should read. Which I may rant about sometime in the near future, but not tonight and not on a blog that is not mine.
**I have lots, actually, but this comment is going to be long enough already.
Thanks so much for this list! It looks fantastic and I have two girls who will really benefit from it! 🙂
You are welcome! I am glad you found it useful. 🙂